Just found out today I drew a mule deer tag in the Red Desert for zone W in Wyoming, I hunted there last year for the first time. I hunted very hard and had a good time, but really didn't see many bucks, I saw a group of 4 on the second day, they were all kinda small, so I passed them up, didn't see another buck until the 6th day, another group of 4, and I bagged the biggest one , a not very big 3 x 3, but I would really like to shoot a bigger one this year! If anybody has ever hunted area W and could give me some advice, I would really appreciate it!

Trigger50 how well do you do on deer by Lusk? I antelope hunted out there several years ago, shot a nice buck with a rifle, and a doe with a handgun, I did see a little herd of mule deer does, but was told it was not a good are for mule deer. I hunted the Big Horns 3 different years with about the same results as the desert, I came home with a buck at the end of a week of hard hunting, but nothing spectacular, good meat and a good time though. I started looking for a new place to try and the game wardens in Lusk , New Castle, and the Big Horns all suggested area W which is the Red Desert. But they actually suggested the Baggs Wyoming area, which is a mountian hunt again and Very crowded I hear. I wanted to get away from the crowds and the desert is a nice change, just not many deer.I think they give out 2 Elk tags and 1 antelope tag to non-residents in the desert. I don't believe they give out very many resident tags either, but the amount of antelope and thier size was amazing.The number of big bull elk I saw was amazing too! The draw odds are so low though that I didn't bother to put in. By the way, I did had the Big Horns as my second choice, and the New Castle area as my third choice for the drawing. All ny hunting is 'Do It Yourself' and I allways hunt alone, other than my girlfriend sometimes goes with just to go camping, and help pack meat!

Never could have got my Elk out of the mountians without the girlfriends (Ellie) help

Antelope in the Red Desert, Look at the size of that buck!

Nice Bull, Red Desert



Huge herd of Elk in the Red Desert

I shot the elk in the Red Feathers Lakes area of Colorado the year before last. It is an OK area, but not great. I hunted there 6 times before I scored, although I had bulls around everytime I went. I hunted 3 years with archery equipment, and the bulls just don't bugle in that area, the locals told me the elk quit bugleing there about 20 years ago do to hunting pressure. I was able to get bulls within70 yards every trip, but, never got a shot. Then I muzzleloader hunted for 2 years. I got on a big bull each year, but I sure don't like Colorados no sabot law. Before sabots were available my dad and I shot quite a few whitetails in Mn. with T/C Maxi Hunters, and although they went through deer you got no expansion, usually no blood and the deer ran along ways most of the time. In Colorado I shot 2 different Bulls at about 35 yards broadside in open fields, almost knocked both of them down, but never recovered them, or even found a drop of blood after searching the whole next day also. So I took the rifle aqnd that time things worked just fine! Shot him at about 150 yards in an open field, took Ellie and I 9 hours to bone it out and pack it to the truck, a little under a mile and pretty much all down hill. Down hill sounds good, but with a pack full of meat and a steep rocky hill, it trecherous! Trigger50 E-mail me some time jbw223@acegroup.cc

After I shot him Ellie hiked in with me with the packs, tarps and knifes and we boned it out, what a chore. You can see the hole right behind the leg, he was a little uphill and quartering away. Thats a 3 shot group, and he never took a step!


Butching in the open was a chore, no trees to tie a leg on too


Triple tapped with the DPMS LR-308, heavy gun (12.5 lbs.) to drag around the mountians for elk, but it did a great job!